Character Sketches Part I

Charisma | Flossie | Felix

Dear Reader,

I’ve needed to take a brief step away from writing episodes of Sleight of Hand so that I can get better acquainted with the characters. They are a funny thing; characters. They never actually turn out the way you hope or assume when you start out. Sometimes they may surprise you. And as the writer of this story having a character not come off the page quite as easily as I originally planned is not ideal. So, I took a page from the latest issue of Writer’s Digest where they devote every article to Characters and decided to answer some questions about my own in the hopes that it will bring me closer to them and the story I set out to tell not too long ago. Here are the three main characters. I’ll have more to share in the coming weeks.

Charisma Price | Flossie Finnegan | Felix Lyford

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CHARISMA PRICE

Describe what your character looks like. What kind of clothes do they wear? How about shoes? Any jewelry or signature accessories? What are you trying to convey to the readers with these choices?

Long auburn hair that she usually wears pulled back in a ponytail. Freckles on her face match the color of her nearly red hair. Her skin is tanned due to long hours spent working at the colosseum during the day time.

She stands about 6’ tall. Weight of 200lbs. Not too thin but not overweight either. 

Her attire is considered “tomboyish” because she wears trousers for work and typically a tight fitting blouse (button down the front) that she tucks into her pants with a belt and large buckle. She wears workman boots that aren’t too heavy to long hours on her feet but are made of good leather and are durable for any weather condition.

What is your character’s worst fear?

Charisma fears disappointing her father, though she hides it well enough from him and everyone. To the world she can’t stand him. They argue all the time. Her mother left when she was too young to remember having a mother. This has always been a sore point between father and daughter. He sees how she is turning more and more into the wife he lost long ago and it scares him. He wants to try and stop her from making what he sees as a big mistake with her life. 

What is your character’s favorite meal and why? Who makes it or where can it be found?

Charisma loves her father’s famous stew. It’s a recipe, he says, that was handed down to him by his grandmother. It’s just about the only food he knows how to make without much thought. He hasn’t made it since she was little but she can still remember it even now and wishes he would make it for her once more or at least teach it to her someday.

Send your character to the library. What section do they head for first and what does that tell you about them?

Charisma has a secret love for magic. Actually, it’s not that secret since her best friend, Flossie, knows about it. So does Jan and even her father knows. This passion of hers, as everyone likes to remind her, will get her into trouble one day and that day has finally arrived when she was handed a deck of cards that can see her dead.

She will most definitely be in the fantasy/magician section of any library. She’ll want to learn all she can about performing magic. Though she may find little interest in the history of it which is where her best friend comes in, Flossie, who is a bookworm about all things magicianary.

FLOSSIE FINNEGAN

Describe what your character looks like. What kind of clothes do they wear? How about shoes? Any jewelry or signature accessories? What are you trying to convey to the readers with these choices?

Flossie is light brown complexion with short, wavy, black hair. She sometimes wears it spiky or slick and combed back. She often gets side-eyes and whispers when she’s around because of the way she dresses.

Sure, her clothes are no different from that of Charisma, or any other colosseum worker. However, she chooses to dress this way even when she’s not at work which is the problem. But for Flossie, wearing pants all the time and shirts that button up makes it easier for her to move about. She fancies herself a bit of a detective and likes to wear disguises that will get her into places to hear things that wouldn’t normally be said in front of ladies.

She wears glasses and has a favorite jacket that has tons of pockets inside and out that she’s never anywhere without. It falls just above the knee.

Flossie is 5’4” and weighs roughly 190lbs (when wet), meaning she’s thin and frail (on dry land) though she carries herself like she can take on anyone bigger than she is.

What is your character’s worst fear?

Flossie fears that she won’t be remembered. Or better yet, that she’ll only be remembered for being a part of the Finnegan family. The Finnegan’s are not exactly the best that society has to offer and Flossie worked her butt off to get out from under the thumb of her parent’s. That doesn’t mean she’s free of them. In fact, the moment people know she’s a “Finnegan Girl” she knows trouble won’t be too far behind. They have a reputation that follows them wherever they go for stealing, lying, and yes, even murder. But Flossie aims to change all that by doing good wherever she goes. She wants to be a famous detective and is a voracious reader of everything and anything she can get her hands on so nothing can get passed her.

Pretty soon she’ll have her own detective agency where she’ll be helping out the people of Wondermere…

What is your character’s favorite meal and why? Who makes it or where can it be found?

Flossie loves food. She’s been known to hang out at local pubs, availing herself of their fish and chips. She’s even been known to down a beer or two when she doesn’t have work the next morning. It accounts for her high metabolism that she isn’t as overweight as she probably should be based on the amount of food she consumes and regularly.

She never learned how to cook so eating out is something she does often, unless she’s with Charisma down in her flat, in which case she’s eating whatever her best friend has cooked, which usually isn’t all that great. Sometimes, Flossie takes them out to eat.

Send your character to the library. What section do they head for first and what does that tell you about them?

Flossie would spend time in the history section of any library. She loves learning about the past in order to prevent mistakes in the future. She also believes that most cases can be solved by simply knowing everything there is to know about the past. That is where all the answers are.

She also has an affinity for exotic plants and herbs. Hopefully no one she hates will have died of poisoning because she would be the chief suspect!

FELIX LYFORD

Describe what your character looks like. What kind of clothes do they wear? How about shoes? Any jewelry or signature accessories? What are you trying to convey to the readers with these choices?

Age and family issues has taken its toll on Felix. Once known as The Great Carnelian, he is now “retired” and hiding away during his declining years. As an elderly man of 70+ years he’s lost the height he once had of 6’5” and has shrunk as well as with a hunched over back is just under 5’10” now. He walks with an ornate cane, though he doesn’t really need it. In fact, the cane is where he hides his magician’s wand which he’d never leave home without even though he’s barred from practicing anymore.

He keeps all of his former magician outfits in his wardrobe closet that he hasn’t worn and likely would fit loosely on him nowadays.

As he very rarely, if ever, leaves his home, he wears the same clothing that is now worn and torn and faded from use over the years. His clothing also had taken on the musty smell of his flat which he keeps dark and dank and devoid of sunshine or happiness.

He wears spectacles for reading glasses that dangle around his neck. He sports a beard from lack of shaving that he rarely grooms so it’s a bit on the unkempt and grey side. He has just wisps of gray hear around his ears and none on the top of his head though few would notice since he wears a cap at all times to hide the bald spot.

Aside from his dark demeanor and clothing he does have a twinkle in his light blue eyes that melts the heart of Charisma right away who takes a liking to him.

His bones creak when he moves about which isn’t as quick as when he was younger though his hands still maintain a flourish when he speaks. And he keeps on his person at all times the jewelry he acquired over the years, namely his signet ring and a chain that was given to him by a woman he loved a long long time ago.

What is your character’s worst fear?

Felix’s worst fear is that he’ll never grace the stage again and the last time he was on stage will be all that is left of his legacy. As a down and out, washed up, embarrassment of a magician, he’s had to carry the brunt of the ridicule. Though his family would disagree. Since he opted to go into hiding it is them who have to deal with what he left behind after his last appearance on stage. 

He knows he’ll never get an opportunity to undo what he’s done but as fate would have it, helping Charisma just might be what he needs to at least mend some of the fences.

What is your character’s favorite meal and why? Who makes it or where can it be found?

Felix is a humble man from a time when magicians gorged themselves on fine wine, food, and women. But now that he’s of considerable age, he’s left all that behind and gets by on potato soup that he prepares himself. In fact, he finds his stomach will turn on him if he even smells any food that has more than two spices mixed together. 

Send your character to the library. What section do they head for first and what does that tell you about them?

Were Felix to go to the library he would probably favor the section on animals. Over the years he’s come to realize that humans simply cannot be trusted. They can be cruel and unforgiving. But an animal won’t be. They will be loyal and true to the end. He wishes he could have a pet for this reason but fears with his old age it wouldn’t be fair to any animal to bring one into his home.